Thursday, 27 October 2011

Indian billionaire club's wealth down by $59 billion Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/indias-billionaire-club-india-rich-list-2011-forbes-magazine-mukesh-ambani/1/157667.html

It's not only the aam admi who's hard up, India's richest are getting poorer too. The combined wealth of India's billionaire club has depleted nearly 20 per cent since last year owing to a number of factors - including rising inflation, falling stock prices and corruption scandals.
According to the India Rich List-2011, released by the Forbes magazine on Thursday, the collective net worth of the country's 100 wealthiest individuals stands at $ 241 billion, down from $ 300 billion in 2010.

This year's list of billionaires has 57 names, a dozen less than last year. The richest 10 are collectively worth $ 113.6 billion, down from $ 150 billion in 2010. Reliance Industries Group headMukesh Ambani, with a net worth of $ 22.6 billion, has taken the top spot for the fourth year in a row despite seeing a drop of $ 4.4 billion from last year.

The biggest loser among the billionaire tycoons is Mukesh's younger brotherAnil, now worth $ 7.4 billion less than last year.
For the first time since his 2004 debut in the top 10, he has slipped out of the elite club and is ranked at number 13 this year. Anil's net worth is estimated at $ 5.9 billion, down from $ 13.3 billion last year. Besides the falling value of his group companies, he was also hit by the 2G telecom scandal that landed three of his senior executives in jail.
Others ensnared in the 2G scandal include real estate magnate Ramesh Chandra, who lost more than half of his fortune after his son Sanjay was arrested in April and the Unitech shares tanked. He is among the rich-listers who lost their billionaire status in the past year. This year's biggest loser in percentage terms is power producer Lanco Infratech's L. Madhusudan Rao, whose net worth dropped 78 per cent.